


Useless Helpings

by Widow_Spyder



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluffy Ending, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, sengen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:21:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26016433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Widow_Spyder/pseuds/Widow_Spyder
Summary: Let it be written on the gravestone of Asagiri Gen that while he was a magnificent and world-famous mentalist part magician, he does know what manual labor feels like despite some particular people thinking he doesn’t. And most importantly, he does get nervous, despite what his outward appearances will have you believe.For the Prompt:Hello! Hope you're doing well! Could you possibly write some insecure Gen? Thank you!
Relationships: Asagiri Gen/Ishigami Senkuu
Comments: 18
Kudos: 184





	Useless Helpings

Let it be written on the gravestone of Asagiri Gen that while he was a magnificent and world-famous mentalist part magician, he does know what manual labor feels like despite some particular people thinking he doesn’t. And most importantly, he does get nervous, despite what his outward appearances will have you believe. 

Especially now, in a prehistoric world without technology and where mistakes can’t be made, or they’d all die. Despite the obvious beginner’s mistakes that would be made, they had to be really careful. 

_Gen_ had to be really careful. Even when he was learning a new trick in his chosen profession, he was always prone to dozens of mistakes before mastering it, some of them even resulting in mild injuries. But they were fighting a war against the strongest primate highschooler. No mistakes could be made. They needed to win. 

The perfect mentalist. _He could be that, right?_

——————

It turns out, trying to be the perfect mentalist is a lot harder than he thought. The sheer pressure of never slipping up is overwhelming, especially since he has no idea what he’s supposed to do. Science was never something he was good at during school, and now he was being thrust into an entirely new world of information he didn’t get. At least Senku could understand what they needed to do, but it didn’t feel like enough for some reason. There were nearly 50 of them in Ishigami village, and yet every explanation landed on Senku to voice. Surely, he knew something that could be useful?

It all came to a head one day when he woke in the morning feeling antsy and wrong. There was an itch under his skin he couldn’t identify, which only became worse when he tried to figure out what it was. For the last week, he had been flitting around from job station to job station, talking to the villagers, observing their work, making comments, and such. 

_That was it!_ Gen wasn’t pulling his weight. He needed to work more. Since his usual routine hadn’t changed much since Hyouga attacked, it was probably annoying to everyone that he wouldn’t help when he was obviously amenable to it. _Was Senku annoyed with him?_

Gen audibly gulped as a small wave of terror curled in his gut. Quicker than he’d usually go, Gen threw on his clothes and practically sprinted out of his hut to get to the village center as soon as possible. He could be useful - no - he _would_ be useful. He’d help get projects done and work hard to prove… To prove what exactly? And to who? 

Gen mulled over the answer in his head for a while until he finally stopped at an answer that seemed to satisfy his main goal. He’d be useful to Senku so he could prove he was a worthy addition to the science kingdom. 

Which is where Gen finds himself now. Helping Senku, hold some sort of metal stick through a hole in a glass beaker as Senku does something else with a torch. Gen thinks the stick he’s holding is supposed to be melted into the glass beaker’s sides to seal it, but he can’t be so sure. 

A cold breeze snaps him out of his observations as he twitches around a shiver. Winter was coming soon; that was for sure. 

“Hold still.” Senku chastises, as Gen once again has to suppress his shivering at the biting wind. Gen stills immediately, mulling over Senku’s tone as he concentrates harder to stay still.

_Is he not doing it, right? Is something going wrong? How can he know if Senku didn’t say anything? His instructions weren’t exactly specific, which really wasn’t fair because how was Gen to know if something went wrong if he didn’t know what he was doing? Surely, Senku knew that. Surely he’d say something sooner or later. All he gave him was vague instructions, and right now, Gen needed a lot more than that. Exactly how long was he supposed to hold it still? When would be the tipping point where he’d have to move it away again? What would the upcoming signs be? If he didn’t do it right, would the whole thing break, and it’d be his fault? If he didn’t do it right…_

“Relax, mentalist.” Senku said, bringing Gen back to the present as Senku chuckled lightly at his confused expression. “Your hands are shaking.” Senku clarified, making Gen’s cheeks heat up in embarrassment. 

“A perfectly normal brain to hand function Senku-chan.” Gen snapped back, trying to ignore his mouth’s tilting, going up into a smile at Senku’s laughter. “Did you know that under certain pressure the nerve endings connecting the brain to the hand will start to fire sporadically which-”

“-Which makes your hands shake when you’re trying to concentrate on something. I know, mentalist, don’t forget who the scientist here is.” Senku finished for him, shaking his head as he tried to focus back on the task they were doing. 

“Ah, but that’s something I learned in my psychology classes, Senku-chan, not from your teachings.” Gen turned his head back to their task as well, internally scowling when he noted his hands were still trembling minutely. 

“Stop shaking and continue already.” Senku groused, and _oh_ if only he knew how hard it was to stay still. 

“Did you also know that telling someone not to do something will 75% of the time always end up with the thing being done anyway?”

Senku raised an eyebrow, unamused. “You’re trying to distract me with science facts.” _More like I’m trying to distract myself,_ Gen thinks. 

“Me? How could you insinuate such a harmful accusation towards me!” Gen sarcastically gasped, making Senku huff and roll his eyes fondly. 

“Move, I’ll do it.” 

Gen couldn’t even describe the measure of relief he felt when he’s able to let go of the metal stick and straighten his back from the hunched position he was in. And isn’t that weird? He shouldn’t be relieved that Senku was taking over the job he was given, he should be ashamed that he couldn’t do it, but for some reason, it’s overshadowed. The job was difficult, one he didn’t understand and logically it would be better for Senku to do it, lest he makes a mistake and ruins everything. The pressure was too much. “If you so wish to, Senku-chan. I won’t stop you.” Gen answered with an obviously faked sigh, trying to keep the relief from the tone of his voice, knowing it would sound suspicious. 

Senku waved him off, seemingly none the wiser to the internal workings of his mind. _Good,_ Gen thought, _better he doesn’t know._ “Yeah, yeah, go find Kaseki. I’m sure he has work for you.” 

Gen nodded and turned away, leaving Senku to his work. As he made his way over to Kaseki’s station, he tried not to think about how fast his legs were going.

——————

“Kaseki-chan?” Gen poked his head into Kaseki’s hut, knowing he’d find him inside after hearing the tell-tale sounds of him hard at work. Sure enough, Kaseki was inside and sitting on the floor with many different types of rope in his lap.

Kaseki looked up as Gen entered, offering a welcoming smile and a knowing raise of his eyebrows. “Oh, hello, Gen. Senku sent you over, did he?” 

“Whatever makes you think that?” Gen asked, as he sat next to the old-timer and straightened the rope that had gotten tangled in it’s designated crate. 

Kaseki nodded in, thanks. “Well you do seem to be in a helping mood, what happened?” He teased, making Gen sarcastically laugh. 

“Oh haha, you’re hilarious, Kaseki-chan. The one time, I decided to pull my weight and help, then it must mean I’m dying, is that it?”

“Nonsense,” Kaseki chuckled with him, before handing him a long length of rope. “Here, these baskets won’t weave themselves.”

“Really? That’s all you’re doing over here, weaving baskets?” Gen asked, surprised Kaseki wasn’t doing anything more important. Usually, he was working on bigger projects that took a lot of concentration and expert crafter hands. Baskets were easy. 

“We’re going to need them now that the winter is coming.” Kaseki explained as if he could tell what Gen was thinking. “Oh ho! I wonder what Senku plans to have us gather for new projects.” He exclaimed excitedly as they both set to work. 

“Yes, I wonder.” Gen mumbled, as his thoughts started running the more baskets he made. 

_This is too mundane. Too simple! They don’t need any more baskets, past the dozens they now have. Damn it. He isn’t useful here, either... Anyone in the village can make these, even the children! He needs to leave. He isn’t helpful here!_

“Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it then.” Gen quickly said, hastily getting to his feet and propping up the baskets he had finished against the wall. He practically bolted for the door, hoping beyond hope that Kaseki’s older person’s wisdom wouldn’t sense that something was wrong. “See you later, Kaseki-chan!” 

Kaseki looked up surprised at Gen’s departure but didn’t question as he nodded, watching Gen move quickly out the door. “Oh okay! Be careful walking that-” Gen yelped as he slipped and hit his knees on the hard ground. “-fast.” 

Gen brushed himself off and smiled, assuring he was fine before Kaseki followed him and made his way to the science shed. There was always work to do in there.

——————

“Hello Chrome-chan!” Gen exclaimed as he climbed into the science shed. As expected, Chrome was inside surrounded by a bunch of rocks as he held them in his hands, examining them.

“Hey, Gen.” Chrome waved as he looked up from his work. “What’s up?”

Gen shrugged as he walked around, trying to appear nonchalant, hoping the desperate twinge for work didn’t appear in his movements. “Nothing much thought you might need some help.”

“O-oh really?” Chrome stuttered, his eyes widening. Gen didn’t miss the note of hesitation and tried to ignore the way it stung a bit. Before he could really crumble under Chrome’s stare, Chrome smiled and beckoned him over. “Thanks, I’m just sorting our rock collection. You can sit and start on the granite deposits.”

“Okay then.. Uhh- this?” Gen awkwardly shuffled over to the huge crates in the middle of the room, trying to figure out which one was granite. The first one he pointed to got a small shake of the head, so he tried another, putting more confidence then he felt, into his words. “This one.”

Chrome nodded, beaming that he got it right. “Yep!” 

Gen smiled back and sat down, happy he got it right and began sorting the pieces he found into the separate boxes. He had to admit; this work was a little harder. All the rocks looked the same, and Gen found it harder to differentiate granite from a common river rock. _What would happen if he sorted something wrong? Would Chrome and Senku be mad that it wasn’t organized, right? He seems to be doing well now, but as the basket reaches its end of contents, Gen’s finding it harder to figure out what is what._

It’s the running of his mind that makes Gen fail to notice Chrome’s expression shift until the rock he’s about to put into the scraps pile is snatched out of his hand. 

“That’s so baaad!” Chrome exclaimed, cradling the rock to his chest. 

Blood rushed to Gen’s ears, making it difficult to parse Chrome’s mood. _Is he mad?_ “Bad? Is this not…” Gen trailed off, feeling like his nerves had suddenly been rubbed raw and exposed. 

“Oh no, you’re doing fine, sorry I got excited.” Chrome laughed, making Gen awkwardly join him out of courtesy while trying to ignore his hard beating heart. “This is quartz! I gotta tell Senku, I’ll be right back!” 

“R-right.” Gen stuttered out, watching Chrome practically jump out of the shed, yelling Senku’s name. He almost discarded a valuable rock. 

Gen cursed and dug his nails into his coat, breathing heavily, trying to hold back tears. It felt like hours before he calmed down, but the sun was still in the same position in the sky, so it hadn’t been too long that he was sat there. Looking around, Gen found himself sitting and waiting with nothing to do. 

_Well, might as well just… finish sorting?_ Gen thought as he started putting everything away, hoping he didn’t mess any more things up. By the time he’s finished, it’s been roughly half an hour, meaning Chrome probably wasn’t likely to be back anytime soon. Still, he couldn’t just leave and disappear on him like that. There was more work to do, and sitting in the hut alone with nothing to do was not going to help. The antsiness was starting to fade but is persistent in trying to stay, which means Gen needs to move on sooner rather than later. 

So Gen grabbed a sheet of paper and charcoal, writing a short note about the sorting job being finished and that he was going to help the others in the village. With that, Gen nodded to himself and climbed out of the science shed, making his way around the village. 

There was still Kohaku, Kinrou, and Ginrou, and perhaps even Ruri left on his list. _Maybe they needed help._

——————

As the sun sets that day, so does Gen, excusing himself the second the stars start twinkling in the darkened sky. He’s exhausted. Mentally and physically, it doesn’t feel like he’ll even make it out of bed tomorrow. His limbs ache after helping Kohaku move a bunch of heavy materials around the village, and his mind is a jumbled mess after having to reconcile Kinrou and Ginrou after they had a fight and then talk with Ruri about village politics. Even his fingers have sore calluses from helping Kaseki with the baskets and then fingering around a bunch of rough rocks with Chrome right after.

Gen collapsed face-first into his bedroll the second it was laid out and groaned as he let himself relax a bit. The day is over; he can rest now until the next day when he’d do it all over again because the itch is finally tamed. He did his best and worked harder than he has in a really long time, and now he doesn’t feel as antsy. 

That is until Senku decided to stomp into the hut with a clear purpose set in his expression. One that Gen wasn’t up to deciphering at the moment, his tired mind too sluggish to determine anything specific. 

“Not like you to go to bed so soon.” Senku said, suspicion running like freshwater through a river. “Did something happen?” He asked. 

Gen turned to lay on his back, smiling through the stiffness of his muscles protesting. “Nope, nothing happened, Senku-chan, just tired. Goodnight!” Gen said, pulling the blankets around himself, not noticing he’d exposed his bruised and roughed up knees until Senku crouched down and grabbed his leg. 

“When did this happen?” 

Gen shrugged, letting Senku fret over his knees for a minute before pulling them back when he deemed them alright. “Oh, this morning, I accidentally tripped as I bid Kaseki-chan farewell from his weaving activities.”

“You ‘bid him farewell?’ Who talks like that anymore.” Senku laughed, his smile bringing a smile to Gen’s own face before Senku’s turned to a frown. “How did you, a graceful magician, manage to trip?” 

“Are my ears failing me, or did I just get a compliment from Senku-chan?” Gen batted his eyelashes, looking comically pretty as Senku rolled his eyes. 

“Don’t change the subject.”

In response, Gen huffed, tightening the blankets around his body as another cold breeze blew through the door. “I was thinking, nothing dramatic. Just wasn’t watching where I was going.” Gen waved Senku off, closing his eyes in hopes Senku would get the message. 

Senku sighed. “If you say so.”

“Goodnight, Senku-chan.” Gen muttered, already feeling exhaustion claim him as he listened to Senku flit about their hut and getting ready for bed. 

“Yeah, sleep well, mentalist.” Senku responded, blowing out the candles and plunging the room into darkness and silence. 

Gen doesn’t, in fact, sleep. He doesn’t know why but he doesn’t get a wink of rest the whole night and ends up just giving up and getting himself ready early. The sun’s barely up, which means the village will be quiet and empty too, but Gen finds he doesn’t care as he walks around aimlessly until others get up, and eventually, the entire kingdom is back to work. Gen dreads his sleepless night the minute he sees Senku wave him over later in the morning, already drained and not feeling up to working at all. He’s tired, and his skin still itches under the surface with nervous anticipation, which is how he almost ends up knocking both him and Chrome to the ground because he didn’t notice him approaching with Senku trailing behind him. 

“Thanks for the help yesterday Gen, really saved me a lot of time.” Chrome patted Gen on the back, smiling as he passed. 

Gen nearly faltered again, the praise catching him off guard. “You uhh, you’re welcome. Do you need any more-”

“Nah, we’re good.” Chrome interrupted, nodding to Senku before completely walking off. 

Gen turned towards Senku, trying to keep the hope out of his voice. “You’re sure?”

“Yes.” Senku said firmly before he messed Gen’s hair, making him squawk in outrage. “Take a break, mentalist.” Senku said before following after Chrome, leaving Gen gaping in the middle of the science kingdom. It’s only when he’s nearly hit by the muscles crew transporting supplies that he moves away. 

‘Take a break’ Senku said. If that’s what he wants, Gen will do it. 

So he goes and… does what? He isn’t sure. He’s obviously not wanted in the village so he’ll stay in the forests for the day. He ducks behind trees climbs past bushes, and ends up at a small ledge overlooking the ocean below. There’s a small tree that he rests against, with soft grass underneath him that acts as a cushion. It’s there that he stays, curling his legs up and wrapping his arms around them as he buries his head in his arms. 

It’s hard to notice the day move by as his mind turns into a litany of ‘not wanted not wanted not wanted not wanted, useless useless useless.’ 

It’s only the snap of a branch and tell-tale signs of an approaching figure that breaks Gen out of his thoughts, face flushing when he realizes there are dried tear marks on his cheeks. He hastily rubs them away, hoping whoever just walked in on him didn’t see it. ‘Whoever’ turns out to be Senku, who stops at the side of him holding out a plate of cooked fish and rice for him to take. 

“You know when I said ‘take a break,’ I didn’t mean an all-day vacation.” Senku said as he sat next to him, waving the plate in Gen’s face when he didn’t reach to take it. “Here you missed lunch, and it doesn’t look like you’re ready to get up for dinner.” Gen faked a smile as he took the plate and hoped Senku didn’t notice his cringe. _Has he really been sitting here all day?_ True enough, one glance at the sun, tells him he’s been here for almost the whole day. “Is- is something wrong? With you?” The sentence seems to take a lot of Senku’s willpower to say, and Gen knows it’s because Senku isn’t that good with emotions, but he can’t help the small part of his brain telling him it’s pity. 

“Nope, just enjoying my break.” Gen said, again twinging at the cracking in his unused voice. 

Senku huffed and shook his head. “I don’t think I need to explain to a mentalist how obvious it is to tell when someone is lying.”

“Really, Senku-chan, I’m fine. Just trying to be useful.” Gen muttered the last part, stuffing his mouth with a piece of fish so he wouldn’t have to elaborate. 

“By what? Forcing yourself to work to the bone?” Senku asked, turning to look at him fully. “You are useful Gen in more ways, you know. You don’t need to work all hours of the day to prove that.” It’s shock that takes hold of Gen’s expression before morphing into confusion. “Really? You’re going to make me list all the reasons?” Senku asked, getting no response prompting him to throw his hands up in defeat. “Fine, first of all, you lied to Tsukasa of all people about my whereabouts which basically saved my life from coming to an early end, you help me make very important blueprints all night without sleep, you keep the villagers from going haywire and the children entertained with your dumb magic tricks-”

“I resent that! It took a lot of practice to get those tricks mastered, and I don’t even have the proper materials here!” Gen interrupted, pouting as his cheeks turned red. 

Senku smiled. “Should I continue?” 

“No, you’ve made your point.” Gen mumbled, ducking his head away to avoid Senku’s smug expression. 

“Exactly stupid mentalist, you may not think you’re useful, but you are to me.” Senku stood up, brushing away non-existent dirt from his clothes and took the plate balanced on Gen’s leg. Then, unexpectedly, he offered a hand out to Gen to take. “And that’s as cringey as we’re going to get tonight, come on, it’s getting late.” He said, waiting for Gen to snap out of his surprise before taking the hand with a huff of amusement. It took a minute for Gen to balance himself after sitting all day, but together they made their way back. 

About halfway there, Gen suddenly stopped, realizing for the first time that his nerves weren’t buzzing like they had the day before. There was no antsy itching under his skin, and for what felt like the first time in a long time, he felt calm. Senku raised his eyebrow in question at the sudden stop, but Gen laughed and shook his head, gesturing for them to continue. Senku didn’t question it, instead, smiling along with him. 

They still walked back hand in hand to the village.

**Author's Note:**

> Ahh my computer shut down and AO3 didn't save my draft! I'm really sorry this is later than usual, luckily I had a backup of the fic on a different app but oof. In order to get these prompts down faster, I've made myself a new posting schedule (especially now that school has started back up) SO next fic will be posted a week from now on: **8/27/2020**
> 
> Thank you to famousstrangerreview on Tumblr for the request! I hope you are doing well as well and I hope this fic was to your liking! 
> 
> As always I hope you enjoyed it and Thank You for reading this far! <3


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